This famous geological site in Provence, a massive, 350 sq metre slab of Lower Jurrasic limestone, is a sea bed tilted up at 60 degrees and covered with thousands of fossil specimens. About 1550, are the spiral shells of one type of creature, ammonites, a species long extinct, a cephalopod related to squid and cuttlefish. 90% of them are the single species Coroniceras multicostatum, with the largest around 70 cm in diameter. The deposit is 20 cm thick and took 100, 000 years to be laid down and harden into rock. (The circular insert shows an enlarged sample of ammonite shells) |